Simpsons Meet Brandy and Mr Whiskers
by Great Pikmin Fan
Summary: A four-chapter crack fic based on some really bad idea I had when I was a kid. This is what happened when I tried putting that idea into my more recent "story style." Basically, the Simpsons end up stranded in the Amazon after a kind of AU from "Blame it on Lisa," then things get... very weird.
1. Amazon

**Simpsons Meet Brandy and Mr. Whiskers**

 **Chapter 1: Amazon**

 **Beginning AN:**

Background since this story doesn't start out with one: This is kind of from the ending of _Blame it on Lisa_ , when I saw this when I was really young I was an idiot and thought the Simpsons ended up crashing into the Amazon Rainforest, and that's where the story came from. Also, I'm sorry, but I haven't seen B&MW in ages (I haven't seen _Simpsons_ in years either, but that's not as big of an issue and I just stopped watching that one), and I only saw the first season at that, so there's probably going to be something that directly contradicts with the second season here. That's not even getting into the geographical stuff. To elaborate on the story itself a little:

Well, this is an idea I got when I was... around seven or eight. I wrote this over a series of papers, but only got up to the equivillent of the beginning of chapter two. I can't quite find the original papers, but they may be somewhere around my house. Anyway, I just want to say to forgive the absurdity of this.

Either way, I decided to redo this into a full story (the original paper was written in script format, for Christ's sake) as well as touch up a few other elements. Said elements will be explained in the closing notes at the end of the final chapter.

The challenge for this was to write it in only two weeks: From the beginning of February to Valentine's Day, try to get all four chapters out, and on said last day post them all at once. This failed horribly, and now I'm just getting a sort of challenge to try to write a "mini-series:" These chapters are, by intention, a lot shorter than what I usually write for a fanwork. Especially this one, since it's the introduction and not much happens in this chapter itself. Since the original plan when I was really young was for each chapter to be on a different "checkpoint location," as you can tell from the chapter titles, they'll also be short. This might mean that some plot points won't be explored as much as some of my other stories explore their plot points, but that's kind of the risk I'm taking. If you really like the plot for some reason and want something to blame, I guess you can direct that towards _Over the Garden Wall_. (But please don't I really like that series.) It kind of pushed me to keep up with this "keep it short and wrapped up" challenge I'm doing with this.

I know I retired _Simpsons_ from _SBIG_ , and even though this isn't _SBIG_ , having "main" story appearances from them is kind of over/never really going to happen, but thanks to Grandfather Clause this is one special little exception. Well, in addition to the Grandfather Clause, there's something else, but I'm sure you'll see that soon enough in the story...

* * *

This fateful morning began with the air above the Amazon Rainforest cloaked with fog, that shaded a rather curious set of cable cars hanging high above the jungle. Two cars in particular were traveling on opposing sides, taking a slow trip to eachother.

"I don't like this ride at all." Marge said with a head shake. "Why is this going over an entire rainforest? Couldn't they pick something around, I don't know, a mountain? And why do we have to go so far from Rio, too?"

"This was a new attraction." Lisa explained calmly, "They say it's built to give a long, slow peek at the wilderness below. That's why it's unpopular. And that's why we have to come here at dawn. It's all in a big plan to get even less people here that might witness... well, the fact that Dad's kidnapped."

Their car finally stopped when it was shortly away from that of the kidnapper's, two doors-length away from eachother. This length was shown by, after each of the groups opened their car's doors, they nearly touched eachother.

"Okay, we payed you already, give us our Homer back!" Marge yelled to them.

"Easy now," One of them said with an appropriate hand-lowering, "We don't want this to be a waste. 'Your' Homer can make the jump himself. That way, if he falls, we don't take the blame for not throwing him hard enough."

"That's... oddly generous for kidnappers."

"Nah, we just don't wanna have to throw a guy like that. Well, Homer?"

He took an arm out and on the outside of his car, peering down nervously.

"I don't know... I don't think I can make a normal jump." His expression lightened as he snapped his fingers, "But a _wall_ jump!"

"A what?" Lisa yelled from the opposing ride.

"I don't know what that is, but come on man!" Was Bart's own cry, "Do it! Try it!"

He took a leap, and time slowed down - for everyone that wasn't a kidnapper. As Homer predicted, he started falling just before making it to the end of the length of his car, legs kicking fast as the adrenaline began picking up, before he stuck the right one out to the door and gave a mighty push.

This worked.

Homer flipped through the air with confidence, gaining enough height to briefly go over both cars and putting a left leg to the door that the rest of his family opened. He gave a push on this, now straightening out and facing them diagonally. He happily cried, "CANNONBALL!"

He pushed again, hitting the floor face-first and causing the car to violently shake from all of the force. During the shake, Marge made a grab for Lisa and Bart, and was about to embrace Homer as well before it stopped.

"Don't ever do that again." Lisa said among Marge's heavy breathing, deadpan.

Bart moved away from Marge to face down his sister. "What? Really? That was the coolest thing he had ever-"

The now-weakened cable holding them up snapped, sending them plummeting to the blanket of leaves below. The pair of crooks looked out of their own car and shrugged.

"Hey," one of them said, "If we threw him and he didn't even make it outside our own, would that happen to us?"

* * *

Whiskers was only just keeping his head visible from an outside window. "I'm almost afraid, but Brandy, what is that sharp-looking, very sharp thing that looks real sharp?"

After brushing the wood against a rock again, she swung the object around with a rather bruised arm. "It's a sword."

"Wh-wh-why a sword?" His head got even lower and more out of sight.

"Because I was almost trampled by an elephant yesterday, and I realized that I need to show a little more power if I want to avoid getting hurt. I mean, an _elephant_ of all things! Those don't even normally _live_ here!"

Now he was letting his full head through. "Really? You didn't go crazy and-"

"No. Look, we made the jungle a little more like home, but it's still a crazy place! Anything can happen, anyone can-"

As if on cue, a loud crash sounded with a violent shake that tossed the dog back and the bunny off of the treehouse's tree. The former ran to the door and stuck her head out, not really paying attention to Whiskers weakly climbing the house's steps.

"What was that?" Brandy asked. All she got in response was a shrug from Whiskers and a faint voice:

" _Ow! My head..._ "

Brandy laughed. "New people!" Sword still in hand, she climbed down until she reached the point just above Whisker's location. She jumped the rest of the way and ran towards the voice. "Come on, I'm going to check them out."

Whiskers pressed a hand to his mouth: "If they turn out to be baddies, then you have something to test that sword on!"

He turned away from her and shuddered. "That sharp, _sharrrp_ sword..."

Which she used to cut through any shrubs and vines that would, at worst, slow her down. Now that she could try out her 'completed' (eh... close enough) weapon, she started laughing along with her run.

That is, until she came across the wrecked red car. Smoke was leaking from it, as well as some weird golden blobs-

No, wait, those were people. Brandy quickly stuck part of her sword in a sheath, before thinking about what Whiskers said earlier and taking it back out.

"Oh. The yellow guys. You must be aliens-"

"Hey," the largest one said as he aligned himself, "Just because we're part of that race long ago doesn't mean were from their planet. I mean, you're a talking dog, does that make you... oh I don't know, you look like a Floridan but you're right here! Does that make you a-"

"Yes." Brandy sighed. "Yes it does. I am Brandy Harrington, of the Florida Harringtons, and I was left here stranded for almost a year before... well, I sorta grew attatched to this place."

"I am Homer Simpson. Of the, uh... Ohio Simpsons."

"Bart."

"Lisa. And that distracted-looking one over there is our mom, Marge."

She then noticed the one with tall, blue hair whipping out a smart phone.

"Hey, are you-"

"Calling for help, yes. And you might need the help too. I mean, what about your family?"

Brandy shrugged, giving the sword a one-handed flip. "To be honest, after finding a huge mall here, I didn't care about rescue so much anymore. But if I have a chance..."

"Okay, but I get the first dibs. I feel uncomfterable letting other people touch my phone. In fact, I'll dial yours and talk to them. Who did you say they were, exactly? The Florida Harringtons?"

"But!" Bart interrupted, "It's _those_ guys! The Florida Harringtons! Come on Mom, you _have_ to let her talk to them! They can come up with anything better than anyone else can!"

"But..." She leaned in to whisper, " _Other people touching my new phone..._ "

"Mom, please. Just this once. Be cool. Those Harringtons can be pretty stuck up, even _I_ wouldn't know how to talk to them and neither would you."

"Hrrrmmmmm... okay, fine."

Tossing the phone to a slightly eager Brandy, she began to dial and engage in a casual chat.

"Hello? Yes? It's me. Yes, I'm still alive. I was stuck in the Amazon Rainforest the entire time. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It was all because of a stupid rabit. And- oh! Really? That's good, but is there anyway I can go back... if I want to! I don't want to be stranded, it's just that- great!"

She moved it away and continued talking to the Simpson family. "That was one of my relatives. He says he can use your phone to track my location, and he'll set up a search party for all of us!"

It was then that Whiskers finally entered the scene, running towards them all while happily waving a small, splintering knife in his hands. "Look Brandy, look! I made a sword too! I have my own-"

He tripped over a root, causing his freshly made weapon to flip through the air and stab right through Marge's smartphone. The Simpson gasped.

"You're gonna have to pay for that." Bart chimed in.

"Not only _THAT_ ," Once Whiskers took his head off of the ground, he saw Marge looming over him, telling him this. "But now we're stuck here until- well, who knows when!"

"Actually, we're not." Brandy said, opening the device and picking out a chip. "The tracking device should still work, right?"

"...I guess?" Marge shrugged. "I don't really know how these new gears and chips work! Just yesterday I think I bought four apps by accident."

Bart laughed. "Oh man, I tried something like that before! Trust me, this will work!"

"Okay, maybe it does, maybe this is a different model?" Lisa cut in, "Either way, I don't like this place. Did your family say where they were going to start their search, by any chance? Any landmarks we can get to? So we can leave as soon as possible?"

"Yes, actually!" Brandy cried. "They said they were gonna take a ship, and land on the beach at the far... east in of the Amazon. I don't know. My owner had to talk to one of his friends about it. As to... whether there was such a thing, or if the rainforest was all land."

"That's a start..." Lisa muttered, backing her feet away from a suspicious looking dark ant. Finding no neighbors to that purple-ish insect nearby, she gave a mild sigh in relief. "We should make it there."

"Heh." Homer said. "Good luck making it out of here. Don't you know? If you're lost, you start going in circles! I'm not even sure Brandy knows the way to the beach!"

"I... don't-"

"Well I think I _do_." Lisa cut back in. "Moss. It always grows north. We can use that as a guide. And with a way to tell that we are always going in one carnal direction, we won't be going in circles."

"Really?" Brandy got closer in interest. "It was that simple?"

"Sort of. We could just go right when we spot moss. Or just walk towards the sun while it's rising, or away while it's setting."

"B-b-b-but Brandy!" The rabbit finally interjected, "Don't you want to say any last words to... anybody?"

"Hmm..."

"Well?"

"Nope. Let's go."

* * *

"...And the sheath is just as neat. I carved that too, mostly out of the harder wood. But I tried not to carve too much. Not because I didn't really care, but because I don't want to put my sword inside what's just... another sword."

They were definitely making progress. Between the decreasing number of trees, they saw several spires of rock sticking out into the skies. The orange and tan stuck out in a great contrast to the greens and browns of the neighboring rainforest, Whiskers giving this new, unfamiliar environment a scowl.

At least they have a landmark.

Brandy took a deep breath after finishing her sword explanation. "Wow, this is way too much walking. I don't even know where my own home is anymore!"

Homer gasped. "Oh no! She's fallen victim to delerium! Your home is in Florida! No- uh..."

Brandy plamed her face. "I meant the 'home' I set up back in the Amazon. Which I can call my _temporary_ home now."

"We don't know that for sure!" Whiskers chuckled, "Come on buddy, stop acting like this is so final-"

They came to a stop after the dog cut away a number of shubbery, exposing the base of those tall pillars of rock:

Mountains, if at irregular shapes. Almost all of them had abrupt stopping points with long, flat tops, aside from the set few spikes pointing up. The same spikes visible from the end of the forest.

But this was hardly one of the top elements they noticed. For one thing, these mountains had giant cages around them. For another, there was a pair of metal poles leading up to a large billboard. That is, large even by billboard standards. From the akward angle and because of the size, they had trouble reading it, but Lisa eventually made it out and read it out to everyone else.

"Wel...come... to... Pig...man... City?"

Bart made several paces to the sign's front, trying to get as best of a view as possible. "No. Way. I thought this was just a myth that the schoolkids and crazy conspiricy people tell eachother! I never knew this would... well, be there!"

They paused.

"O...kay..." Marge finally said, "What's the 'myth?'"

Bart drew a deep breath in.

"Okay, they say that there are these giants somewhere. And this is, like a big tourist attraction for them. Or one of them. It's a zoo, for other freaky things as freaky as the giants!"

Whiskers laughed. "Wow, even _I_ find that hard to believe! There's so many holes in it! How come those fancy space-views of the Earth don't show it?"

"I don't know, but if this is true, then maybe that thing about the Shadow People is too!"

Before he could continue, all six of them were met with a loud shake from the ground. Followed by another. Followed by another. These trembles were very frequent, almost as if they were matching one's walking pace-

And that turned out to be true. The stomps stopped just as they saw a giant pair of shoed feet to their side. Climbing up that appeared to be baggy blue jeans and a plaid-red shirt decorated with gold buttons. Up higher revealed his true swine-like appearance: He had the face of a grinning pig (obviously with a more humanoid body), and with a fittingly chubby appearance to go along with it. His hands, which were much more like a human's, were the only parts of his skin visible other than his head, and they were pink and thick as well. He cast a glance down at them, looking as though his massive eyes could barely see them from where he was at.

"MICROS!" His voice boomed, before blinking and giving a pointing finger to Whiskers. His grin, oddly, faded a little.

"Ah, Whiskers. That's your name, right? And the rest of you are with them? You're cool, I guess. Kind of a bummer, man. I was totally gonna have me some new specimens to put in my zoo."

"What." Whiskers said, surprisingly flatly. "Um, no, no, no, I think you have me confused for-"

Bart gasped. "It all makes sense now! The Shadow People are like this group of evil... demon things I think, or something like that, made of this strange purple goo. They are weak to this weird green water-looking stuff, so they build bases around some of the rare spots where it's at to try to hide it. And one of these spots is supposed to be around here! By Pigman City! And Pigman's kind has an alliance with the Shadow People, because he can help them... oh, right, eat souls! They eat souls!"

By the time he looked around, everyone was staring at him. Even Pigman, though probably for a different reason. Bart kicked at the dirt below, annoyed.

"Well, it's only what I heard."

* * *

 **Closing AN:**

Believe it or not I was stuck on the ending part for... three days, I think.


	2. Pigman City

**Simpsons Meet Brandy and Mr. Whiskers**

 **Chapter 2: Pigman City**

 **Beginning AN:**

You thought Bart's myths at the end of the last chapter were weird? Wait until you actually see them in action.

* * *

The giant leaned himself over to the six Amazon escapees, squinting at the bunny.

"Come on, Whiskers, you can drop whatever act you have for these other micros. If they're your friends, I'll let 'em through. If they're not, it's exhibit time."

He sighed. "Well Pigman... that depends."

Slowly turning over to look at the newfound family, and then settling his gaze at Brandy, his lower lip trembled as he spoke. "How would you react if I told you... I'm not who you think I am?"

Marge put her hands to her hips. "Are you saying you _didn't_ break our phone?"

"Oh, I'll do much worse things than that. You see..."

Taking a deep breath in, bending his arms upward, and staring at the sky, he growled as he underwent a mild, yet still unusual, transformation. His fur stood up, as it began to tinge lavender, darkening itself until it was a deep purple. The entirety of his eyes gradually shifted color as well, a layer of bright red coating over everything until the sclera, irises, and pupils could not be made out. His jumpsuit exploded, unexpectedly revealing that the portion of his body originally covered by it was still white. That is, until further in his shifting, where it turned green, and eventually faded out from some thick bursts of purple gas all around. The gas cleared, revealing that he had yet another, black jumpsuit on under it all.

He ended his stance to give a direct look at the Simpsons, who all flinched.

"I am really their top weapon." He said, voice notably lower and colder. "A secret. More like an experiment from the Shadows, to be their being that will finally set sail and conquer the universe. In reality, I was about to be taken to a top-notch secret facility to end me once and for all, but I escaped easily. Into the wilds. And Brandy came along too... that white stuff you saw that turned green was a protective layer to try to keep my powers supressed, and to hide the second jumpsuit. Which also supresses my powers, and keeps me from entering... a stronger form. But still, I won't harm you! Yet..."

The yellow family flinched again.

"But don't be scared! Brandy, you at least... you sorta became my friend. So, I'll ask nicely, do you want to rule the universe with me?"

She put a hand to her face, lightly having a nervous laugh. "Do I? Well... this is a lot on my mind, but... okay?"

The family gasped at her.

"Excellent! Let's see, let's see, I'll need a few souls first..."

Brandy took a step foreward, reaching to draw out her sword. Unnoticed by everybody in the scene, Pigman glared at her. "Woah woah woah. You should have told me about that _first_."

"Well, I thought you knew, since Mr. Babbermouth over there knows everything about us. Yeah, we sort of eat souls. Not for food, but to help us gain the power we need to take over the world. Not only does it make us stronger, but we'll have less people to worry about."

Giving him a low growl, Brandy now completely drew her sword. "And what does this do to them?"

"Oh, we mostly take the souls out of dead people. Before they have the chance to go into the afterlife. But when we do it on living people, it kinda has the same effects as a coma. But that doesn't mean all comas are soul-steals! Oh no! It means that-"

"How many have you taken?"

"Oh, well, _right now_ four of them had just died - I promise they're kept in a safe- okay, I can't-"

" _How many?_ "

"Five."

"I take back what I said. I'm not going to rule with you if it means people losing their souls. In fact, I think you should be the first living thing to have this sword tested on."

"But... I thought we..."

"This'll be better than trees." This got Lisa to look like she was about to say something, but Brandy shook her head after realizing her factual error. "I mean, um... the first _animal_ thing. If you're even animals."

The dog jumped, giving a quick arm flick to swing her new weapon at the now purple-tinged rabbit, bringing it down as hard as she could-

All it did was a mild bonk, with Brandy falling to her feet. Strange. She could swear it was sharp.

"We're not made of typical matter. Especially not me. I'm pretty strong! Now... if you really want to fight me, then it's my turn."

His fingers all stuck out, alligned as though he tried to turn his hands into knives. Yet unlike knives, his two stabs - one for each arm - occured at the speed of a blur.

"Two strike!" He cried.

"Th... that..." Brandy looked down at her midsection, running a hand over where he 'struck' her. "Didn't hurt at all. I didn't feel anything!"

Two more hits, with the same result. "Four strike!"

Then an added four. "Eight strike!"

"Okay," Brandy said, "I can tell that we're at a draw here-"

" **Nine:** Tail Hit!"

He pulled a backflip, his tail - which at some point began glowing a brighter purple - gave an added hit to her face. It was then that the eight points he hit began glowing a matching purple, sudden bursts of energy coming from them that definitely made Brandy flinch. And tensed her, opening her hands and forcing her to drop the jungle sword. In fact, it tossed her back, leaving her to skid on the ground until she was abruptly stopped by hitting one of the small trees that made part of the unnofficial border from the rainforest to this bizarre 'zoo.' Whiskers laughed.

"You should be glad that I called my moves! You won't get that anymore!"

Bart ran over to the fallen pooch, picking her sword back up with one hand and pointing at her with the other along the way.

"It's your sword! You need to go to Darktown and find a way to make a weapon outta the green stuff!"

"Okay," Whiskers said after a head snap, "I'm sick of your little info bot. In fact, Pigman's not doing anything, why don't I mix things up a little?"

He opened his mouth - except this time, it was about twice as wide as he looked like he could. Whiskers began drawing in wind, and soon a blue, translucent image resembling a Bart clone (clothes, still holding the sword, and all) started moving away from the Simpson and towards the rabbit. The main body itself stayed in place, yet he was balancing on one leg, while the blue after-image appeared to be getting dragged closer.

"Qu...ick!" Bart's voice faded in and out. Within no time, the blue image began moving, appearing to try to swim back into the body, while said body itself also appeared to have some mild control to it. The more of the blue he had passing back through his physical self, the less quiet and broken his voice was and the more motion was carried through the yellower him. Both reached their peak when he tried swiping his hands in, and even that decreased as the image was being dragged closer to his mouth. "A few more things! Darktown should be to the east! The pool you need to dip your sword in might be heavily guarded! And remember... blue souls means they have a chance to go back in, but green means it's almost certain they're gone-"

The body fell back after what they presumed to be his soul could no longer touch it. A few more seconds of trying to swim back later, and the soul itself turned green with a sound that resembled two swords clashing. Then, the soul lost the shape of its owning body as it was stretched out and morphed into a wisp, that spiraled into Whisker's mouth.

"I gave you a chance..." the bunny said. "But now it's over."

His ears suddenly started to whirl. Quicker, quicker, he dodged all of the following swing attacks dealt by Homer, Marge, and Lisa, until he was at an unreachable point in the skies.

"YOU'LL ALL BE SEEING ME SOON! THE INSIDE OF MY BELLY, THAT IS!"

Higher, higher, higher, he went until he disappeared in a purple speck in the sky. The three active Simpsons kept a grip on Bart's body, while Brandy looked over to him.

"I see his sense of humor still hasn't-"

And all five of them were swiped by the large, pink arm of Pigman.

* * *

Most of the fivesome regained conciousness in some room only dimly lit by torches. Save for the one who was without a soul, of course. The Simpson family immediately went back to checking on Bart, with Brandy sliding herself away to an opposing wall. Oh. Her sword was still there. And at least enough wood and the like to make a sort of shield. Wait...

"So." Lisa beamed at Brandy. " _Still_ want to side with him?"

"What? No! I already said, I changed my mind! That bunny is nothing but pure evil!"

Still noticing a disapproving look from Lisa's direction (and Homer and Marge refusing to look), Brandy went with the best option she could come up with: Changing the subject.

"Where are we? Did anybody wake up and saw where he dumped us off?"

"Well, Bart certainly didn't wake up."

Brandy sighed. The room didn't appear to have any real exit save for a liftable notch above. So, that big guy knocked them out somehow, opened some huge box thing, and dropped them all in. Well. Time to get started on the shield-

And Pigman made his sudden return, ripping the 'roof' right open.

"Well! Seems my micro exhibits are awake, huh? It's good to see my ol' knock out-breath didn't kill any of you!" Purple mist left his snout as he said this. Yeah, that must be what KO'd the group.

All Brandy could think about was how _revolting_ that was. _That thing_ , of all creatures, breathing on her?

That was a breaking point. She threw her trusty jungle sword over at him, knowing that it may well be her last use of it (or, at least, last use _by her_ ). Hitting the elbow, it caused some kind of reaction from Pigman - he cringed, his arm reeled back, and it tipped the strange box-like object the group was kept in.

"I was just tryin' to wait until you wake up! Then I was only gonna ask you questions! And then... well, you could be my exhibits!" Pigman chose to use his other arm to pluck the sword out. Bad idea, the 'box' kept slanting, and revealed what it was below them:

The most obvious to them was that Brandy and the Simpsons were no longer on ground level. They were higher. How high, and why... that took a bit of comprehension of what was below them. It seemed like a track of rocks: Twisting earth that formed something resembling a slide, held up by several rocky pillars periodically. Crossing along itself, all over the place, not having any apparent consistency. And Brandy and company were about to fall down these twisting paths if they didn't act fast.

The spare wood. That's it. Making a shield, then, would have to come later.

So she bolted over to the large board opposite to the side that was tilting its way, just barely managing to reach out to grab it before gravity stopped being a force they could fight against.

The Simpsons fell first, but Brandy managed to up her own sliding speed and catch up with them, wood pileup in tow. Grabbing all four members and shoving them on (with the plentiful amount of space), she could only give a few words before needing to focus everything on their ride:

"H-hold on!" She cried to the family. After all, if she needed to prove something to the daughter of the group, she will. Obviously not because of wanting to look good, but because a soul-sucking abomination might break free... no wait, Lisa would have nothing to do with it. Brandy just wanted to be a better person for the sake of being a better person! ...She told herself.

Eh, point is, the Simpsons are safe...ish on the board now, 'all' thanks to Brandy's lifting them on.

Those few seconds Pigman was still out proved vital in training how to 'slide' down this twisted path of rock without him interrupting. It was _just_ crafted at the right way such that leaning over a tiny bit to the left or right would make noticable turns. Jumping... wasn't an ability at the moment, it seemed. But there also weren't any places where this was needed.

So, a curve over to the left, an extremely sharp turn to the right... Brandy glanced downward. Wow. Dizzy. But there was something of a path leading to solid ground. So, with enough, ugh, _patience_ , she could-

Suddenly her own sword was tossed on to the track. There was Pigman, obviously not stunned forever. Grabbing that thing back wasn't really easy - splinter risk was at the _bottom_ of what to be scared of for once - but Brandy somehow did it. Yanking that sword out of the stone - though it was, admittedly, barely a sword that was barely in a stone. She held it in front of her, a vain attempt to look intimidating, while still trying to steer this thing.

Pigman's next attack was... something odd and unexpected from a pig-like giant, to say the least. A green, glowing ring of what looked like pure energy spawned starting around his neck, moving up above his head... looking like some neon, radioactive halo. With one booming laugh, the ring was launched away from his person, and towards the spiraling earth around. The ring cut right through all stone ahead of it, not just leaving a small cleve mark in the part ahead of Brandy, but also cutting through about three more parts of it. Or, hopefully, separate 'slides.'

Pigman's deep laugh boomed through the desert landscape as Brandy struggled learning how to jump at the last possible second. She wasn't sure how she managed to pull it off - Homer and Marge _probably_ helped since their arms were also planted on the front of the wood cluster and they made similar jumping motions as what Brandy did - but hey, no matter what Pigman broke off, they at least have some way of jumping over it. Right?

But wait. Brandy shook her head. If she were to take this thing down, she should do it while closer to his head. _Now_ was the time to act, as his grinning face moved closer to the band.

Pigman's first real mistake was to swipe with his sharp claws and blast another ring at the same time; his hand got stuck in the dirt right after he prepared the blast, and he seemingly had not choice but to fire as he tried pulling his sharpened nails out. One grunt later, and he was launched back with his nails automatically clipped. One of them still stuck on the ground. Which, thanks to recent blasts and shockwaves, was actually starting to level out.

Brandy stuck a foot down, bringing their contraption to a stop while she looked at the nail-white in particular that was in front of her. A stray boulder fell right on it, only to shatter in millions of pieces which then bounced off in a cloud of dust.

Welp. There was her... shield?

Yeah, that was her shield. Lifting up the unsurprisingly heavy nail, she found a completely clueless Homer staring at her to get on that thing so it can be kick-started again without losing her. This time, she outright faced the broken-off nail chunk against any oncoming blasts. Despite a ring-blast being what broke off the nail in the first place - if indirectly - it was surprisingly stable against the onslaught that followed.

At this point, the team was already about a fourth of the way down. But to Brandy, this seemed like a way of missing a good oppertunity. A chance to strike a weaker point... not at his feet... his heart, right? That's how these big monster things are usually defeated, aren't they? ...Well, it's not likey that his vital spots are in his _legs_ or anything, so...

She needed to sum up courage before doing a leap-

"Why are you staring at him? You still want to team up?" Asked Lisa.

Forget courage! Lisa was enough motivation. The pampered pooch found herself making a daring leap, off of the wooden pile-up and soaring closer to Pigman's torso. Still a bit of a climb. Holding the shield will definitely make that climb harder, but at least she can protect herself if he does that ring blast again.

Homer and Marge were quick to taking charge on the ride, thankfully. With some guidance from Lisa on the ideal points to hop over small gaps, the Simpson family lifted themselves time and again, knowing that they can easily replicate whatever a _dog_ can do. Er, Floridan.

Brandy's leap ended with her grabbing the giant's shirt. Luckily for her, the climb up was helped by Pigman swiping his hand down to lift her up... and she simply escaped through his fingers, hopping on his nose.

After about four attempts to cross his eyes in order to see her, Pigman failed and settled for talking to someone he couldn't see.

"You really think you can beat those larger than you? Metaphorically, I will be your tiniest enemy if you choose to keep digging deeper."

Welp. He just admitted that he's not that much of a threat. So even if she found a way to kill him, which wasn't even her intent, he'd still probably go down laughing. Brandy had to look down as she pondered this.

It was here that she noticed something about Pigman she didn't before - one of his teeth looked loose. A lower fang that uncomfortably slid around in its respective gum, to the point where it looked like he virtually lost it a while ago and was just trying to keep it in his mouth. Another ring formed around his head. Normally, jumping right to the monster's mouth was the _last_ idea that would make sense to Brandy, but...

The following ring barely grazed her as she made a dive towards the loose canine tooth. It was wince-worthy, but she got to chip part of his tooth clean out. Pigman's hand darted up to his mouth in coverage, while Brandy grabbed on his shirt and the fairly sharp chip that she knocked out. The pooch just _barely_ got a hold on his falling enamel by clicking her feet together at the right time, then chose to stab him with it.

"Ha! You really think you could stab me with part of my own tooth! Even with a micro, stabbing one with their _full_ tooth won't make a difference! You know, you are so laughably weak if this is your best idea for- _Ow toothache!_ "

He took a step back for the last part - slipping on some of the loose rubble from his own blasts and falling back into part of his own strange rocky slide. Still holding on to the fairly decent pseudo-sword that was the chunk of tooth, she used her own pseudo-shield nail to ride down his shirt, then his pant leg, and off his foot as he took a plunge. Pigman didn't move after the initial fall, and Brandy had to look back to see why:

The gigantic pig-monster was speared through the back of his own canyon obstacle course. He didn't show any injury other than the slide's beginning going through his back, but he was turning purple in overall color at an alarming rate. He coughed - a good sign that this didn't mean a transformation into something worse.

"So, you did it..." He said, hoarsely. "You beat the Pig and took some of his parts. But I'll convert myself to fading shadow before you'll use anything else up! Ha! Even with my whole body on your side, though, I don't think you have a chance against the Rabbit. I don't even think you can handle the _Goat_..."

Once he basically turned into a purple sillouette, Pigman exploded into a cloud of a matching color. This smoke flooded Brandy nearby and the farther Simpson family before washing out into the air and lifted to the skies above, dilluting itself.

As his word implied, Brandy still had the tooth and nail pieces. She examined them before noting the Simpson family (dots at this distance but it was good to know that they all made it down the slide in one piece each, even if one of those pieces was soulless), keeping a mental note to herself to cut these into more proper shapes.

* * *

It sure was awfully nice of the Simpson family to wait by the end of the 'slide,' out into a more open desert. Which was... clearly not natural. For the obvious reason of being a desert in the middle of a rainforest. What was even weirder was some black shimmering in the distance that looked somewhat like a city, but that was the least of Brandy's worries.

"Hey." She said, avoiding eye contact with the family now.

"Hi there!" Homer greeted. "You're ready to move on like a hero?"

"A- hero?"

"Well, yeah." Marge shrugged. "I mean, you thought about switching sides, but when it came to it you gave that pig monster a _whooping!_ "

Lisa did not inherent the energy from either parent. She still had her arms crossed, likewise not looking at Brandy.

"I never thought of myself as a _hero_." Said the Floridan. "But... if how we survive is also gonna be how I save the Earth... I guess I could try to get Bart's soul back in him. Yeah. I could!" She seemed to be saying the latter part to herself more than anyone else. "Let's move on."

Thus, the family took their first of many steps out into the oddly humid sand pit, questions swarming about what this huge city out at the end may be.

* * *

 **Closing AN:**

Sorry to say that this will be going on a brief hiatus, even though this is already half way through the fic (for sure, it's half way by chapter count. By word count... on one hand, chapter 3 might be long by this story's standards, but chapter 4 could be short.) I've made it a promise to, once a year, get out some things: A strange crossover, an installment to _SBIG_ , and a chapter of _SBIGlets_. This is the strange crossover. The installment to the _SBIG_ will be coming on Christmas to the MS Paint Adventures forums, under the fan fiction thread. (I'll give a direct link to it on my profile here once it's out.) And for _SBIGlets_... I'm gonna resume work on chapter 2 tomorrow, which for those that care about it may be shorter than the first chapter. I might actually make the majority of the chapters shorter than the first, make it more of a collection of mini-stories rather than longer romps that just go on. I... do have a problem with dragging stories on, which is why the chapters of this are meant to be short. To pull myself out of this little habit.


	3. Darktown

**Simpsons Meet Brandy and Mr. Whiskers**

 **Chapter 3: Darktown**

 **Beginning AN:**

Heads up that this will be the longest chapter. Why? Well, let me sum it up like this. First, the whole part about being in "Darktown" had the least amont of ideas even back when I was a kid. And then I started thinking up concepts... and I probably gave it the most of the ideas.

By the way, this might just inspire me to get back to _Movie Day_. Mostly because this shares the same rough, general "point A to point B, familiar characters in unfamiliar environments" style that this has. Only MD doesn't have shadow monsters, it's a fair bit longer, and its plot is pretty shakey but in a completely different way from how this is.

* * *

They had to _really_ get up close to that 'city' in the distance to see what it really was, simply because this was an idea that all four of them had to comprehend.

Yeah... at the sand's end, what looked like moving, oily ink coated over it, forming what highly resembled a sidewalk that had visible curvature towards the ends of this new location. The substance appeared to be pressed against itself at these curved edges, as though an invisible dome was over the entire region. And behind that, streets and buildings, all of which shared the same oil asthetic. Most of these looked identical: A good thirty-something stories into the sky, wobbling windows, and tips that looked somewhat like paintbrushes. One exception was at the center of all of this. A single skyscraper, well around twice as wide and three times its height. Somehow an even darker color than the near-blackness of the city, shooting up straight into the afternoon skies. For a 'city,' this was rather small. The group could clearly see the beginning of a beach past its boundries, looking like the one natural area since leaving the rainforest proper (there seemed to be something... off about the desert that they crossed).

Thanking Homer one last time for handing her non-edible berries he found in Pigman City to use as paints to decorate her shield out off boredom (with only blue and yellow as the colors, she painted a sloppy spiral pattern. Not really her thing, but it was better than nothing), Brandy shook before moving an inch closer.

Before either dog or Simpson dared to set foot on this new location, they were greeted with the purple feet of the rabbit.

"Whiskers!" Cried his betrayed friend, "Are you here to take another soul?"

"I- Actually, you're right. I was." He shrugged. "You saved some time from my intro speech. Well, I think I'll take... Lisa's. Yeah. Last time I went after the boy, because he knew too much. But now that I have enough strength... she knows too much to. And, since I can't take an adult's soul yet, or a dog's, I guess I have no other choice."

Brandy tried to swipe at him, only for his hand to instantly grab on to the tooth-blade. By holding his palm out. Directly at the sharp end.

"Just because Pigman could be hurt by regular objects doesn't mean that I can! I'm the best of the three experiments! If you want something that old thing will work on, try the second-best. He'll be here soon. In the mean time..."

The bunny took off in a copter once again, drawing a more powerful gust of wind that surrounded all parties in front of him. Of everyone bracing themselves from this inhalation, only one was affected by his previous trick. And, as he claimed, that someone was Lisa.

In a process much faster than Bart's, Lisa's soul was slipped out and changed from blue to green faster than she could respond to. Turning back just as the spirit begun losing its appearance of Lisa and turning into a simple green wisp, all she could utter out was a long, single word:

" _HELLLLLLP!_ "

"You _monster!_ " Marge cried, swinging at the air he hovered over. "Stop taking my babies! I... I... as soon as I find something to throw at you, you're dead!"

He sighed. "This is almost sad. Too sad. Well, I guess I can tell you my _one_ weakness. You see that tall building in the center? Underneath is a pool of this green anti-Shadow liquid. Anything _coated_ into that can kill a being no matter how perfect the Shadow-meat fusion they're made out of is. In the meantime, with Pigman dead, all that you can really kill right now... is Arcshade. He should be here soon."

And then, Whiskers moved. Just a small dodge to his left, turning and then hovering in place. After a few seconds of a confusion, the old spot he was hovering over was suddenly struck down by a massive sword well around the height of a two-floor house. The hare sighed.

"I TOLD YOU," Shouted another voice. Compared to Pigman's imposing booms, this sounded more along the lines of a grunting drill sergeant. "NO GIVING AWAY OUR SECRETS!"

Homer, Marge, and Brandy would not have believed it if they were told that the being that dropped on the handle of the sword was that voice's owner, yet it was. While a bit large and bulky by human's standards, he was nowhere near the towering giant Pigman was. That wasn't the issue: What was the issue was the rest of his appearance. Hooves attatched to two long, thin legs leading up to a main body that had the overall appearance of a goat's (minus the front two legs), but massive dove-like wings that were soon spread out to cover the width of one of the town's skyscrapers. His head was 100% goat though. Unusual for either goat or bird was his coloration, a deep pink that coated him all around. He... was in something resembling black robes.

"But I am glad that you called me the second-best. For once." He said.

"Hey, Pigman was dead. You're the last kiss-up option."

"Really? Shoot, I guess that makes us a duo now."

"...We were barely a trio when he was alive. Anyway, I left Pigman alone to fight these people. I'll leave you alone too, give you your own... world-taking-over plans while I have mine."

"That feeling is mutual."

"See you at the beach?"

"See me at the beach."

Nodding in response, Whiskers flew himself around the 'city's' identical markup. It was then that the goat-bird finally introduced himself.

"My name is Arcshade. Welcome to Darktown. And no, don't even try going around here. I've made sure to put all my best frying tools out _there_ , just so you can be closer to my main soul chamber!"

It should come across with no surprise that the triad was already running, with Homer and Marge carrying Bart and Lisa on their backs, respectively.

* * *

Surprisingly, Arcshade himself wasn't immediately on their tails (literally in Brandy's case, but that went without saying). In fact, he seemingly stayed by the entrance.

And that happened to be when the team heard what sounded like rustling. Even though the town was completely absent of any plants whatsoever.

In spite of what just happened in the desert, what happened next took a bit of time for the three to comprehend. A number of figures just... kind of... _slipped_ from the buildings around. All of which looked at least some purple or dark color and were dressed in shifting, shady black suits. Scarves covered most of their lower faces, and it was pretty difficult telling what gender they were.

"We're um, Shadows." Said one of them. "And Arcshade wanted us to kill you or something? But here's the thing... we don't, really..." The Shadow leaned in, taking a step closer to Brandy. This person was still a good street's length away, though (assuming that the streets from Darktown were the same length as those back in America. Brandy had honestly started forgetting little trivia like that, Homer just never payed too close attention, and Marge had other things to worry about).

" _Like him._ " The Shadow finished.

"She's right." Another one spoke up. "We once kind of... elected him as our leader? But then... well, he got powerful - literally, not figuratively, and even if all of us wanted to rebel against him he could still all, like, swipe us up. So... we've decided just for now to stick with him while we're in his earshot? But then also give you tips on your to kill him. First, you'll need a piece from any of the three experiments. Well, not really, but it will help. That's more for if you want to kill Whiskers."

Brandy lifted up the tooth sword. "I, uh... do you know someone named 'Pigman?' I got this piece of his tooth and started using it like a sword. I call it... Tooth. And this sheild right here is called the Nail. Because it was from part of his nail. I was kind of pressed for time when I made the names."

"Cool!" Exclaimed the first one. "Now, if you soak that in the Lighting underneath the central building - which is, like the name says, in the middle - and let it soak for about a minute. That should be able to kill him. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to capture you and everything. All of us. All 100 of us in this section of the army."

"Sorry, but that sounds horrible." Replied Brandy. "Becides, we were already captured by that... big... pig man. What's his name."

"Pigman." Spoke another, random Shadow.

"Yeah. And he was huge."

"We know that." Said yet another. "Sorry. Just- if you thought we didn't. We're familiar with all three of the Shadow Experiments. Pigman, Arcshade, and Whiskers."

"So even if there's a lot of you guys, I don't think you can beat us."

"Oh... um, right. We have, these weapons?"

They had these weapons all right. All at once, they whipped out some respective tool to attack. Whether it was what looked like a pair of nunchucks, a scythe, or even a sword on par with Brandy's own Tooth.

Speaking of Brandy, when she turned around, she found Homer and Marge already rushing down the streets.

"Sorry!" Marge cried, "But we thought you would have been running too by now!"

"Really?" Added Homer, "I just thought this was survival of the fittest, so I tried ditching at the last second! You're free to join too, if you'd like!"

Brandy stomped a foot on the ground. "After _all that judging_ Lisa did..."

"Lisa's not here right now! Well, she's _here_ , but her soul isn't..."

But she didn't run. Instead, she faced the Shadows down.

"Have you ever thought about... I don't know, overthrowing him? I mean, I'm just one dog, but I beat Pigman. Barely, though. You're, like, there's a hundred of you?"

"There are, but..." By the way, Brandy still hadn't heard a single Shadow speak twice. "Pigman is the weakest of the three. Arcshade, that's a guy who can dish out damage."

"Then why didn't any of you fight Pigman instead? You know, start up a rebellion?"

"Because _Arcshade_."

"Yeah," Said yet another one. "I didn't see _you_ try to stop him."

"And I don't see you trying to stop me." Shrugged the pooch.

"DID I JUST HEAR SOMETHING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, INACTIVITY?"

Arcshade's voice. A few blocks down, but that was enough to send the Shadows around Brandy back into their original fighting stances. Somewhere else, Brandy could hear two thick, splashing sounds in quick succession. Followed by Homer and Marge letting out small screams.

It only took her a second for this to remain a mystery. Once the paint-like ground of the city lost some of its solidity around Brandy's feet, causing her to slip down under it, she had a pretty good guess that the Simpson family was subjected to the same fate.

* * *

 _Once, the Shadows remained in envy._

Brandy wasn't sure how she suddenly had this thought. Only blackness was around her. Only silence entered her ears.

 _Light itself used to be their main weakness. Only in a city burried under the dirt of a rainforest were they safe from the surface's rays. Traveling to another location of darkness was nearly-fatal. Even at night, the risk of sunrise was too great, and the moonlight too could poison them gradually._

Wait. Something was forming in front of her. Surrounded by the same bizarre, oily paint-wisps, was a light showing... some kind of cave wall.

 _Then. Three volunteers came in. And they changed everything. The pig. The goat. And the rabbit._

Brandy _really_ didn't want exposition after all of this - just a way out. Her eye-roll was practically audioble. Especially as, aside from the voice in her head, this place was completely silent.

 _They were gathered before the original matriarch of the Shadows._

The 'light' around expanded, showing three animals as mentioned. A rabbit that bore too much of a resemblance to Mr. Whiskers, a walking pig, and a walking goat. They were standing before an exceptionally large Shadow, reclining on her chair and tapping her chin.

"So. You want to be infused and granted longer life, at the cost of being weak to our own being and items dipped in Lightness?"

All three nodded. Once this happened, Brandy started noticing hazy outlines around the whole scene. As if this was just a detailed, moving paint drawing.

The rabbit - _obviously_ Mr Whiskers at this point - spoke up.

"We'd be honored."

And thus, the presented room filled itself up with black. Black that trailed up and around the three animals, before everything Brandy could see went dark again.

* * *

Then, everything splashed away, leaving the Floridan out in... a courtyard? Complete with plant life! She hadn't seen much of that back at Pigman's, and none at all since leaving that place.

Wait. Closer examination revealed that this was all made out of the same paint-like substance the rest of Darktown was. The grass, the metal fencing around it... of course, the towering buildings in the distance. And this main building, right in front-

Which appeared to be _melting open_ into a cavern. One with a green glow coming from within it...

Oddly enough, even though she was just kind of dumped out alone, Brandy felt safest going into the cavern. Mostly because, unlike that short presentation she was given, the rocky walls there looked genuine and not made out of that shadow paint stuff.

Without any real signs of anyone speaking to her... just _maybe_ what sounded like the occasional flap of Arcshade's wings... Brandy went in towards this cave. And, as expected, it wasn't much special. Loads of sharp, brown rocks greeted her initially, then dulled down as the source of the glow became more apparent. It wasn't much of a surprise that she spiraled down a little before coming up to what this cause was:

Some green liquid. A fairly large lake, in fact, that just barely ended before the horizon of Brandy's vision. It gave a warm, soothing glow as sparking yellows and blues swirled around its surface. Amazingly, this would normally look like something incredibly toxic. Yet... somehow, Brandy knew this would be helpful.

"Hey!"

Brandy lept back- another unfamiliar voice. She turned to the source, while standing on one leg and holding her hands up defensively - and saw that it was another Shadow.

"Hey, put that Pigman tooth sword thing you made in there!" She cheered, "It's... about the only hope in killing Whiskers."

"Why can't you put something in here?"

"That stuff will kill us."

"Then why is it in the center of your city? And how are you out here, anyway? If that movie made sense - which it... didn't? - Doesn't sunlight kill you?"

This Shadow sighed. "Well... the three animals helped put a shield over this town. We could finally see the sun without getting disolved by it. Whiskers promised us a worldwide barrier so we can go and meet other people, in exchange for power and four talking dogs."

"Like me?"

"Yeah. It turns out that talking dogs are, um... extra powerful in that way? They have some kind of magic or something. I mean, you have some kind of magic or something. But it only seems to be useful when it's used by other people. Do you know of any talking dogs named Sandy or Tiffany?"

Brandy's heart sank. "W-wait..."

"Apparently they were lost in the Amazon too. Then they were 'rescued,' but they somehow ended up here. It seems like even if you _want_ to leave the rainforest, you'll just end up captured at Arcshade's special prison. We found four Springfieldians - two soulless - locked up there. And no, don't ask me about it, that place is one hundred percent Arcshade-ran."

"So... if they die... does your barrier..."

"No, it still lasts. We've already found a way to go out to the rest of the world. We just... _can't_ physically do it yet."

"Why not?"

"Well, we'll need another talking dog. I don't think the two we have now would want to listen to us, seeing how Arcshade probably treated them."

"...Hm."

Brandy chose to toss the Tooth in this glowing lake. Speaking again, she said "So... have you _seen_ that family? You know, the ones where two of them lost their souls or whatever?"

"...Yeah. Once. In the prisons."

"Where are they?"

"Sssss... uh... you see, you're not a Shadow. So you can't really merge into the city itself or anything, like we can. Someone will have to change the terrain around you. I think that's how you got here, because a friend of mine told me that you were like, by the entrance? Then Arcshade showed up and she and her friends all wanted to look like they were capturing you, so they kind of hid you off over here and brought you over to Arcshade's weakness."

"Wait a minute. Isn't Pigman's tooth made of part-Shadow? Won't throwing that in this lake destroy the shadowy-stuff and make it weaker? And if it doesn't, then this glowy toxicy-looking thing won't damage Shadow-animal teeth... so why would it damage Shadow-animal people?"

"Oh yeah... I'm not _completely_ sure how it works. Something about tooth enamel soaking up that light liquid... mixing tissue with Shadow mass makes both of them stronger, and normally immune to that. Pigman even used to bathe here before he left and made his own zoo."

" _Ew!_ "

"Says the girl who used his tooth as a weapon!" The Shadow giggled.

"Oh. You're right."

"Anyway, that right there isn't toxic. In fact, if it weren't for the bathing thing, I'd recommend drinking it to heal up before the fight against Arcshade!"

"Wait... why can't any of you fight against him? I mean, you girls are an army. I'm literally _one dog_. Why are you all pushing me to be the only one to fight him? And don't say I'm a 'chosen one,' because that's the last thing I want to hear even after all of this!"

"Hm... hm. You kind of have a point. I'll go get the others. You just... uh, wait until it's completely soaked in. That sword should shine when it's all done."

Oh wow, speak of the devil. A bright, glowing white light shone from this blade. The Shadow clapped her hands.

"Yes! I'll get everyone over here, and show you to the elevator. Careful not to let too much of that stuff drip out. We spent a lot of time building this city out of shadow paint, after all."

She bolted out of the cave and, the second she reached the paint-like grounds outside, she merged herself back into that ink below her. Brandy sighed, reluctantly picking the now-charged Tooth back up with mental images of Pigman in the nude.

Once she finally made it back outside, Brandy noticed something either she missed or just flat-out wasn't there before. Some elevator embedded in that giant central tower. She kept in mind that the next time she saw a Shadow, she would ask that Shadow if it was just added or there the entire time. It seemed like very minor trivia, but not knowing the difference really could drive her crazy later.

Well, no reason why she shouldn't step into it. The second she did, she felt watched. ...Not in the kind of paranoid-y way usually associated with the phrase 'felt like you're being watched.' But in an oddly _warm_ manner. Brandy smirked as she tried to look for the proper term. More like... she felt like people were looking out for her?

It occured to her that the button for the top floor was seemingly pressed automatically. She shrugged this off as something one or more of the supporting Shadows did, and forced herself to wait patiently as elevator music-

No elevator music. Instead, the 'speakers' (she couldn't find any) gave out more exposition.

 _So. This town was built with a forcefield to keep the light from being lethal._ The same type of thoughts entered Brandy's head. It felt less dream-like since, unlike before, she wasn't surrounded by shadowy darkness, and instead had an only slightly irregular-looking elevator as her company. It also helped that she did in fact reason this as being part of the elevator's non-existant speakers. _It's invisible and can be passed by anything that wouldn't be killed by outside exposure. This was crafted by the three animals, yet it can only cover so much of the near by beach. To extend it further, we needed four talking dogs- wait. You already know this. Right... what's something you don't know about? Hold on. Got it. The Lightness Pond._

 _That was created as a last resort. Called Lightness and not just Light, the Pond was made in the event that the three animals or similar strange Shadow-based enemies would turn on the race. Crafted mostly through trial, error, and with highly protective equipment, this was situated underneath the surface Capital. The building where all business meetings were held. Guarded dearly by an army of Shadows, unless they chose someone to become the holder of this secret weapon..._

 _Its use as an actual weapon backfired, however, something that was bragged about by the three animals. The pig would bathe in it. The goat would drink from it. The flesh portions of them seemed to neutralize its effect, keeping the shadow parts of them secure. They laughed at the Shadows for this failed invention. But... there was a theory on how it could work. If one were to remove a piece of the being belonging to one of the three animals, then soak that in the Lightness long enough. With no will to protect itself, the Shadow mass would be taken over and destroyed by the Lightness over time. This would leave only the biological mass, still keeping its strength that the Shadow had boosted it with. With this strength, it was theorized that the Lightness would also gain a rise in power, becoming strong enough to cause these beings great harm if the time comes to pass... but it was only a small guess..._

Brandy jumped back when the doors finally opened. She was not expecting to see Arcshade's giant hooves greet her first-thing. The dog gulped as she tried to sneak her way around the massive feet, even though the elevator's dinging was a clear sign that he already knew she was there.

"Well well well." He said in just about the most cliche manner imaginable. "Pooch Number Three. Although she _was_ gonna be Number One. How Whiskers didn't make that the case when she was the only one that he had a constant eye over is beyond me. Well, I'm here to stop that. You're not gonna get very far out of the Amazon before I drag you back in, and you're _certainly_ not gonna get that far before Number Four drops in."

Why were her legs trembling? Pigman was bigger than this guy. Barely, but... she had a worse arsonal at first that wasn't even buffed with his weakness, this guy shouldn't be that much of a problem either. Right? With a bit more stuttering than she would have liked to admit, she began.

"I... w-where are the Simpsons? And Tiffany? And Sandy?"

With a powerful gust, Arcshade flapped his wings to send himself back to the edge of this building's roof. Afraid that the doors would close on her (of all things - she couldn't keep her mind that focused at the moment), Brandy rushed out of the elevator and took a look around. Past Arcshade lied the rest of the tan desert that the group came from, surrounded by the curved border of the ink-like city of Darktown. In the distance beyond that were the cliffs and canyons of Pigman City, and past that still was the bare-outline of the nearby rainforest. She took a sneak glance behind her: Once again having the lower border be the remaining section of Darktown, further to the east she was greeted by the sparkling cerulean ocean beyond. Two things in particular caught her eye: Darkdown apparently also went into part of the ocean itself, buildings sticking straight up from the sea, which she thought was mildly interesting. She would have whipped her head back to the killer goat-bird in front of her if it wasn't for the other detail. A large boat, heading right towards the apparent 'dock' of the town. That's when something clicked.

Her owners. Her family. Before any of this darkness-mythos and Shadow minions and exposition about dogs and sunlight... she called for her family. And, if she wasn't quick enough, would have thrown them into a nasty surprise of a new world. She held her head down and sighed, turning back to Arcshade to get a better look at him. Brandy would have then noticed the following even if Arcshade didn't announce it himself:

"Yeah, right. Whiskers told me. You were gonna get rescued. Maybe for good, this time. But that's then. Now you'll have to deal with me, aaaaand to answer your question earlier, you should have been looking right at 'em."

Arcshade stepped to the side to give her a better view. Seemingly wrapped up in some webbing on a back wall were all six of the captive people she mentioned. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Tiffany, and Sandy. Bart and Lisa were still just as knocked out as ever. Homer only hung his head down, barely able to look at his wife as she desperately struggled out of the prison. Sandy too was struggling with her trap, but not to the same level of effort as Marge was. Tiffany just glared at Brandy, being the first to speak up.

"You!" She cried. "I knew it! If you went with me when I was rescued, we could have worked together! We could have seen Whiskers for who he really was, and none of this would have ever happened!"

" _Sheesh_." Brandy replied. "Long time no see to you too!"

"I see you're enjoying your reunion." Laughed Arcshade. "Well... think of this as a final goodbye. Just because you beat Pigman, doesn't mean you can beat me. After all, he may have more size, but it's the strategy that counts. And I hold enough strategy to keep this rotting dump of a Shadow town standing, while he just goofs off playing with bizarre animals."

Brandy only withdrew her newly-coated Tooth.

"Ah. That green... So they've betrayed me... that's the only explanation I could come up with for how you found that stupid puddle so quick. I should have sent out Shadow Ants like I did to you back at the Amazon. Yeah, speaking of that. You _might_ have seen some purple big-ish looking ants back there. Those were all on me."

"St-stop it! I still think I can beat you!"

Deep down, she mostly just kind of wanted him to say the following phrase, which he just did: "Oh yeah? You and what army?"

Of course this brought down some relief on her part. Because this meant that now was the time that, at any second, she'd be joined by...

Just one Shadow. Brandy recognized her as the one she talked to while getting the Tooth soaked in that Lightness, even underneath that thick clothing.

"Well..." She told herself as the Shadow waved to her. "I beat Pigman by myself. If Homer, Marge, Sandy, and Tiffany want to fight too... six is still better than one."

The instant she finished her sentence, Arcshade attacked. His massive pink wing struck at the roof feet before Brandy, making her leap back with her Tooth held out in front of her.

"What kind of reaction to a first strike was _that?_ " He asked, a hint of cawing in his voice. "I'm a bit rusty fighting-wise, normally Pigman gets all intruders first, but I _know_ that you should have at least tried to hit me by now. Unless you actually killed Pigman in his sleep or something, I don't know."

This gave her enough incentive to just charge through, her Shadow ally closely following with a dagger in-hand. Arcshade got a little chuckle out of this, lifting up a talon just when Brandy was about to cut at it.

"Yeah, but still." He continued. "It's been a while since someone tried to attack me, so I guess this is better than nothing. I'm a bit rusty right now, but if you keep fighting like that, then I'll pick up. And put you _down_."

Somehow, the ally Shadow successfully stabbed him even though he was paying clear attention to her as well. She grinned sheepishly after being stared at by the bird-goat, but it was more of a stare of annoyance.

" _Finally_." Was all he said. No, it was more of a sigh too. "One of you sums up the courage to land a _hit_. Wow, I'm proud of you, and I don't even really remember your name. You all just blur together, ya' know?"

"Rialdantz." The Shadow replied.

Thanks to the rather unfamiliar name, Brandy was briefly distracted by taking a second look over at her paint-like ally, just enough time for Arcshade to send a swipe at her, the dog flying right off of this building's roof.

Or, at least she would have, if she wasn't stopped by several inky hands rising from the edge of the building. Then setting her down, somehow not causing an impact with them. Brandy only spent a moment of confusion before turning around and being greeted by more Shadows emerging from the tip of the building. She smiled at the small army.

"You're all here to help me too! Great!"

"I don't think _any_ of us like Arcshade." One of the many that just emerged said, "But we kind of needed a little... um, _push_ to start our revolution."

"We were all ready!" Claimed another, "It's just that none of us felt like making that one first move!"

Brandy nodded.

"So... does anybody like know his weakness?"

"You're holding it." Answered Rialdantz, complete with pointing at the Tooth in question.

"Oh. That's... it? Is there like a weak spot I can stab or cut with this or something?"

"...He hates having his talons cut, if that counts."

Brandy tried her best at a sarcastic nod, then instantly went back to focusing on the matter at hand. Thankfully, some of the Shadows did put long-ranged weapons to use at the very least, as Arcshade was also bombarded with bullets, boomerangs, and daggers shot out of cannons. The booming bird mostly shrugged these off, though Brandy could tell he was scratching at whatever got hit.

"Wow." The dog said, "No wonder why you don't just overthrow him. He's like... invincible to anything that isn't... the... Lightness stuff?"

Brandy's following slice at his leg was met with two things: One, a small group of braver Shadows leaping on the injured leg and throwing a few hits with their respective short-ranged weapons. Two, the foe grunting in annoyance and promptly kicking her up and on to his back.

"Okay, I think I'm just gonna... fly off now. Wait for all of you Shadows to catch up. So... see ya'!"

To rub the action in, he dove off _backwards_. A backflip into the city skyline below, with only about five Shadows actually clinging on to him.

"Get back here!" Brandy shouted. Not just because she only had a split-second to grab on to his wing or hoof or... whatever to avoid plunging to death (unless the Shadows knew how to help? It seemed slightly unlikely...) in this artificial city. Or... town? She grabbed to Arcshade's _chest_ , both of her guesses incorrect, and tried to stab at him with the Tooth. Hey, something like this finished off Pigman, why wouldn't a similar move that has his weakness this time work on someone smaller?

"You think that just because I'm the smallest of the three, I'm the weakest? Heh, I'm not calling myself better than Whiskers or anything, but..."

He started spinning around in place. Whirls upon whirls as the wind - seemingly the one thing in this place that wasn't made of inky shadow - breezed right past her, causing a small gasp out of the dog.

" _I'm not really at Pigman's level either._ "

Somehow, she knew that once a number of feathers lifted from him and began spinning in the air at a pace directly matching the fall speed, Arcshade was doing this intentionally. The fact that they kept doing this even after Arcshade finally broke out into flight and began soaring down the streets of this ink nightmare was a dead giveaway.

So, she climbed up to his back just when the feathers all shot in her direction at once. Thankfully, it seemed that Arcshade could not control them after sending them off in an initial fire. Whether they were burning hot or razor sharp, Brandy did not know from that attack, and didn't really want to know.

"For the record, I have all sorts of attacks on those things. They'll cut you, fry you, zap you, and freeze you! Not a pleasant experience! Now, if only I could charge feathers while they're still on my body..."

Nervously getting to his neck - the fact that he took a sudden 90 degree turn from his previous direction of towards the beach and was now going south not helping - Brandy rose the sword up and-

"I'm keeping you in the limits of the city, if that's what you're wondering."

"Okay." Brandy said. Normally she wouldn't interrupt this if it meant being unable to instantly end the fight, but this curiosity got the best of her. "Are you, like, reading my mind?"

"I was wondering when you would pick up on that! Yes, I am a... _partial_ mind reader. If you think of a number between one and one hundred, I can guess the number to the nearest range of ten."

"Ewww I'm killing you right now!"

"Ha! Ever heard of 'Don't shoot the messanger?' Well this completely isn't 'Don't soot the messanger,' rather it's 'Don't kill your own ride.' I drop, you drop, your friends are probably still gonna stay stuck, that sword eats away a huge hole in the town nobody either can or wants to pick up which'll remind you of your failures. Whiskers is still around, he'll just wait for pup number four and we're free to take over the universe!"

"So... now what?"

"Well, now you just let me win! If I don't win, Whiskers will! Even _if_ you beat me without dying! And _that's_ why you should have just stayed in the Amazon like a good little puppy, _not_ take some lame 'adventure' out!"

This was when something bizarre-looking happened, but by this point easily explainable. A number of arms shot out from the sides of two near buildings Arcshade was about to fly through, forming a net that stretched out as he flew through it, but eventually trapped him.

"Well!" He shouted, seemingly genuinely stunned at the turn of events. Brandy moreso - again, not nearly as familiar with Shadows as he was - but then smirked when she realized what the cause of that was.

Sure enough, the arms were really shape-shifted Shadows, most of which emerged and lept off to turn against their supposed 'leader.' Small (compared to him, that is) daggers, nunchucks, staffs, guns and the like overwhelmed him to the point where he was nearly covered by the group of people in dark clothing. Brandy noticed Arcshade strugging to get out, questioning if at this point she even needed a finishing move.

Well, she did it anyway. One quick stab to the neck, and Arcshade's struggling seem to have came to an end. He stood there, slowly turning into pure purple as Pigman did before him, as half of the arms pulled both the goat-bird and his sort-of captive over to the respective building. Somehow, the mass let them all gently slide to the ground, where a massive circle of Shadows formed around Brandy and the dying ex-leader. Arcshade coughed.

"Brandy, Pigman already gave you a 'spooky warning' about Whiskers and me being impossible to beat, so I won't waste your time with another one. Instead, I'm gonna tell you something useful. Do you really think this town would be better off with a new leader? Or will whatever newly chosen lead sucumb to the same issues with power as I have? I was really performing a mercy kill to Shadows: With someone so unrelatable to them, they won't blame themselves as much. But put a 'generic' Shadow in my place, and the problems will piece themelves together... Brandy! You only know the name of one of them..."

With that, he was another purple sillouette. One that puffed away shortly after. Shortly following this, all six of the captives emerged from the floor around, splashing out of the ground as though they were each shot through a puddle.

"These Shadow people told me that bird-freak was jamming my rescue signal while I was trapped here." Said Tiffany, still looking over at Brandy with crossed arms. "I'm staying here. Until my family comes back. Sandy, you're staying too, won't you?"

"I- um- well-"

"Good. Let's go."

As the pair of dogs walked off to the depths of the city, Homer and Marge dusted themselves off.

"Just have to get to the beach." Said Brandy, starting to get a smile despite being abandoned by two others just then. "Hit the beach and I'm _finally_ out of here!"

"Oh, we can give you a ride!" Cheered a Shadow, fairly far from Brandy's eyesight. "We can sort of control the outer layer of this city's buildings, it's just a matter of being sunk into the ink and moved to the dock!"

* * *

After having to talk herself into it (she was mostly convinced by Homer and Marge, who _did_ take up on the short cut), Brandy was warped over to the dock she saw earlier. She instantly ran to the edge of this not-really-wooden structure (hey, at least it was vaguely brown, standing out among the blacks and grays of the rest of Darktown) to give a wave at the nearing ship.

"Over here! Over hereeeee!" she cheered. "I can explain why this town looks like a painting later! But now I went from _kind of_ wanting to be rescued to _argh there's giant animal monsters here save me save me save me!_ "

And the boat pulled in, bringing itself to a halt. A head mostly obscured by a large, black, sock-like hat peeked over the railing, staring at the composure of this dock - and indeed, Darktown in general - with confusion.

"Wait... are you sure this is... Brandy, do you know about this place?"

"I'll explain when I get home! Now come on, let me on!"

He peeked his head back down, and as Brandy instructed, the main doorway opened up. A man with lightly pinkened skin stepped out, dressed up for a fancy occasion and holding a bag of money in one hand. He also had a thin moustache on his face, which he currently twirled in front of the two soulfull Simpsons.

"Ah, more potential customers? I'm Eddy Skipper Harrington, of the Florida Harringtons, and of Edco's Service for Collecting the Assisted's Millions."

"Oh... you're the man behind SCAM?" Asked Marge. "I didn't know you were Brandy's owner!"

"Yeah... I don't know who you are. Anyway, Brandy, it's been a year. We missed ya', buddy. Hop in, I brought Ed and old Double D along the trip too. I know you saw Double D earlier. And uh... sorry we couldn't find two dogs like your friend asked, but we found one willing to join you and have a chance to date a millionare."

"...Friend?"

"Yeah. Some guy that said he was a pig that called me right after you did. He suggested bringing some dogs over, for something important. He didn't tell me what he was talking about."

"...Aaaaand you just fell for a trap."

"What?"

Whiskers immediately landed, right between Brandy and the ship's entrance, now appearing even darker than he had before. His ears have grown long and now bore a slight resemblance to flexible insect legs, and of course they happened to be holding Sandy and Tiffany.

"Well, three's better than two. I know I can't steal your soul as long as you have... that... _green_..." He looked as though he was about to add something after 'green,' but never did.

Eddy looked over from side to side. "Who is this guy? Can someone explain?"

"You'll have everything explained to you by the plenty of souls you'll be stuck with inside of me!"

This was his sole warning before a third rabbit ear spawned from his purple head, reaching through the ship itself and dragging out yet another anthropomorphized dog out, wrapping this around his neck and dragging him off by the bunny's floating area.

"Now... to dig in."

He once again prepped another soul-inhale, this time immediately yanking out the souls of the dog triad. Theirs were all a glittering yellow, though they still turned green (this one more of a shining, partly-yellow tinge) when he severed the connection with their hosts. The second he completely consumed them, he screamed.

"Brandy!" The second suit ripped off, his body starting to turn into a mass of tendrils. "Up until this point I was sparing you! Otherwise the _**second**_ Sandy got here I would have achieved this power! The power... to consume the souls of almost everyone on the planet!" In a calmer tone, he added: "That isn't another dog or a Shadow."

"WAIT!" Cried a Shadow that emerged from the docks. Rialdantz, in fact. She was instantly joined by a large army of them, standing as an imposing blockade. "As the... elected new sort-of leader of Darktown until further notice, I order a ban on using souls for weapons to... gain more souls? Look, I'm a bit younger than most of the people here, I wasn't really around for your plan hundreds of years ago."

"Oh, blah blah blah. I think I can command you or something now. Or, at least, do this:"

A sent a shockwave. One that seemingly didn't harm any of the Simpsons, or Brandy, but it did shake up the foundation of the town's buildings, and it also sent most of the army flying back. Gritting her teeth, Brandy turned back to the shape-shifting monstrocity that started out as her stranded-buddy and gripped the handle of her blade. She also stuck the sword into the dock's wood for emphasis, but regretted it when the material around started sizzling.

"How dare you! They just wanted to go out and explore the rest of the world! To not be so... trapped! If you were really my friend, if you were like... you made yourself look to be back in the Amazon, you would have helped out people who were just like me!"

"Face it, Harrington!" By now, his voice changed dramatically. It was more snarly, lower in pitch... yeah, basically your average 'saturday morning cartoon' villain knockoff. "This is one place you can't escape! Not unless you're willing to push! If only three dog souls granted me unlimited flight energy, or super speed... I would have gone in search for more dog souls, more power, and a rocket to take me to other worlds and spread my chaos!"

His legs took a dramatic change into a pair of sharp, purple-pink daggers that wouldn't look out of place on a centipede. Then, turning his head towards the air, he began to inhale again. And it was then that Homer and Marge felt the effects. After some hesitation, the couple's souls were yanked out to be transformed into green lines that went to Whisker's demonic mouth. Following this were all those onboard the rescue boat. And, soon after, countless other green beams shot from all over the skyline, feeding him as his body became increasingly centipede-like. He added new segments, each with their own pair of legs, and his ears flexed and bended until they gave the impression of a large pair of horns. The fur along his face grew longer, blending in among its dark colors to the extent that they resembled some formless haze with a pair of eyes and extremely sharp teeth. Most importantly, of course, was that this transformation resulted in him growing in size.

"This is it! This is my true form! And now I think I'll hijack this boat to spread my presense across the universe!"

 _Still_ not fully being able to comprehend what was going on around her, Brandy picked to hop on board anyway, instantly rushing to the top as Whiskers plopped the Simpson family, along with all three other dogs, on deck and sent another wave into the ship itself. This wave somehow led to the ship turning on on its own, heading for a straight course outward at a small pace. Whiskers had since wrapped about half of his body around its front, constricting it like the devilish snake he apparently was the entire time?

"Really? You're still following me? Well then, since you _**are**_ a 'friend...' I'll set this to take me to Florida! And find the nearest rocket from there! If you survive, you'll at least get to see your old home one last time!"

"I don't want to just 'survive!' I'm gonna try to... um, end this?"

He let out a chuckle, then sent another shockwave - this one directed to the sky. As soon as it hit, clouds appeared to be drawn over to that spot like metal drawn by a powerful magnet. Rain began rushing from this newly-opened sky as though the clouds above had to rush it on a deadline. Wind shook and hit as the boat greatly accelerated, and its speed plus the new change in weather resulted in Darktown quickly looking like the same shady haze it was before coming it as it was going out.

"Really? Just because you took down two worthless lackies doesn't mean you'll save everything. Come on. Try it. Get home, rescue the souls of everyone, _and_ help the Shadows reach new parts of the world! Go on, I dare you to! You think a tiny piece of tooth that happened to have 'the right amount of Lightness and Shadow in it' will take down the Rabbit Monster? Like I said before, this jungle... and that desert are places where you can't leave unless you're willing to push! I should have warned you. You kept digging, you tried every escape plan you got, you kept sending messages in bottles, you kept star-charting and looking at every map you could and turning the Amazon world into their world... if a whole civilization packed with billions can barely get out of the ground, how could you ever get across the hemisphere?"

"Well... you're sort of doing it right now..."

"Out of kindness! In fact, once I do leave Earth's gravity and gain access to float freely to other worlds, I think I'll come back and destroy the shield allowing the Shadows out into Darktown in the first place! What do you say about that?"

"I... I won't! I won't let any of that happen! This is ending _now_ , Mr. Whiskers!"

"Fine. Keep trying to escape. Fight me. I won't hold back. We both know how this will end anyway."

And thus, as lightning struck the sea off towards Brandy's right, the pampered pooch charged across the growing puddles on the storm-hit ship. Her sword held out in one hand and her spiral-marked shield in her other, she was ready.

Ready for the last thing standing between her and freedom.

* * *

 **Closing AN:**

Wow, I wish that didn't take so long to write.

Anyway, even though the finale is coming up and probably shouldn't take that long to do, I'm going to put this on hold for a while. Mostly because this exact story has kind of 'overwhelmed' me considering how long I was stuck on it. I'll put this on hold until... well, until further notice, and look at what else I can do to pass the time. I might also put two fic ideas I just barely started on hold, or at the very least, just one of them. But we'll see how that goes later.

I'm pretty sure my "work a little on such-and-such each day" schedule isn't doing so well since I keep ignoring whatever it is that isn't on that particular "list" and as a result what should be short projects like _Movie Day_ or _naruto the guy with the ninja_ take forever to really get out. Maybe I won't really "replace" anything on this "list," just keep the daily stuff at _run:gifocalypse_ and _Bl:oodswap: Guess Who's Getting a Spinoff?_ and try to put in any random story I have ideas for in the mean time. Until then, I don't really have any immediate future plans for the stories I do that aren't intentionally poorly written, aside from how you should be expecting the next chapter of _run:gifocalypse_ probably within the next week.

If it helps, I left off those two new ideas I mentioned two paragraphs above down at points where the plot kind of starts going down. In other words, like a "mini cliffhanger" that might convince me to get back to them sooner.


	4. Open Freedom

**Simpsons Meet Brandy and Mr. Whiskers**

 **Chapter 4: Open Freedom**

 **Beginning AN:** Well, let's get this story over with and move on to new and exciting horizons! (Starting with... more conclusions of things I've already published.) See the Final Thoughts at the end for what I plan to get back to after this.

* * *

With one fierce battle cry, Brandy brought down the trusty Tooth against her former stranded-buddy. Comforting her, it cut through Whiskers's flesh like a hot knife through melting butter - something unexpected for a beast of that size.

Whiskers hissed through his teeth at the pain. Spawning an arm just to bring it down, Brandy feared the boat flipping over completely from the resulting shake. Water tossed around them, threatening to dip the Florida pooch in, a fate she saved herself from by grabbing on to a rail.

"You know, I'm only fighting you in the first place because you were my friend. Giving you this extra time. Giving you one extra chance to join me. If you want to refuse, I can just dunk you in the ocean right now and fly over to the nearest rocket launch base." He taunted.

"All you're doing is letting your guard down!" Brandy yelled back. "Actually, I appreciate it! Keep letting me win!"

This same newly-crafted arm delt another swipe, knocking the blade clear from her hands. It was mercifully sent sliding along the longer end of the ship until it was blocked by the entrance to its lower decks. With one tendril, Whiskers attempted to pick it back up, but hissed at the pain it radiated.

Brandy, meanwhile, was already on the run to get her biggest form of self-defense back. It was not until after she rose her shield again that she realized something: _Why didn't I dip the Nail in that light pool thingy too? I wish I thought of that..._

Within seconds flat, the enormous abomination was already right up to Brandy. And no response to a physical attack could match the sheer terror she felt when she heard him inhaling all that was below him. Both flesh and... spirit.

Despite being inexperienced with having her soul's feelings and body's feelings seperate, Brandy somehow _knew_ that what she was dealing with was her soul slipping out from her body. A second her, one more mental in nature, that was running alongside her corporeal counterpart. Brandy shuttered as these two personas separated, her control over the more physical of the two starting to weaken. Barely, just barely, she reached a hand out at the trusty Tooth, instantly feeling herself snap back in place as she got a hold of it. She could practically hear Whiskers whimper something about "Being so close..." before she flipped around, weapon fully in hand.

Wasting no time, Brandy dashed on forth just to raise her shield at the sight of Whiskers's new form breathing out some kind of purple flames on the ship. There was a tone of bitter hissing as the Nail successfully deflected whatever kind of flame-derivative he tried to throw, leading to another series of arms being generated from his centipede-like, slightly serpantine form.

Experimenting, Brandy decided to use the Tooth to try slashing out at the flames. And sure enough, large chunks of them well wider in range than the sword's length were being extinguished as she slashed. Whiskers stopped this barrage of fire-breath in favor of a simple sigh once he understood what was going on, bracing himself for Brandy's next attack.

His arms reached at and clawed the deck of the ship, forcing Brandy to start thinking about timing her dodges. He already knew that being as dynamic as possible would reduce any chance of getting sliced, so he wildly clawed around ahead of himself. He even threw in extra arms, moreso than his already massive limb count. Brandy stopped to take a breath in, raising an eyebrow in curiosity as he appeared strained and tired after stopping at about twelve arms. Limits... even a behemoth like him had limits.

Instead of trying to risk the timing, Brandy chose the... risk _ier_ option of diving off the side of the boat, aiming for part of Whiskers's tail. The centipede demon flinched in surprise as she flew parallel to the left edge of the boat, then let out a cry in pain as she stabbed one of his segments wrapped around the side. A not-entirely-unpredictable action followed next, which was the stabbed part beginning to sizzle and turn to steam as part of it dissolved.

He shifted his weight around - just to regret it as he rocked along the boat itself. With a series of stabs, Brandy was able to sink herself partly into the mid-body of Whiskers, with his only method of fighting back being to generate hand-like objects that prformed strikes which didn't appear to do anything. He silently counted out, "Two strike, four strike, eight strike, sixteen strike, thirty-two strike, sixty-four strike, one hundred twenty-eight strike, two hundred fifty-six strike..." before stopping. Brandy continued digging her way inside, giving herself a small smile once she plunged into the darkness that was the belly of the beast and finally being shielded from all the rain.

Then she remembered. Back upon encountering Pigman City for the first time...

" **Two hundred fifty-seven:** Tail Hit!"

From the faint glow of her sword, she could tell that he spawned a cotton tail from outside which traveled into the inner, oily blackness of his self. She soon no longer needed the sword, as the tail itself glowed a bright purple, smacking her in the face.

"I know I said I wouldn't call out my attacks anymore." The dark rabbit-centipede hybrid stated, "But I just wanted to test your memory."

Hundreds of pink dots appeared on Brandy's person. No doubt the number was exactly 256, and no doubt that these were the points she was struck. And these dots exploded into bursts of pink energy, each one going off in short succession of one after another. And each and every one of those sent her back, first out of Whisker's lower body, then flying in front of the ship, then out to the open ocean. By the time the waves of attacks finally, _finally_ finished, the ship was but an approaching blur as Brandy splashed into the sea. She barely had enough energy left in her to flip the Nail so that its handle faced upwards, realizing that now may be too late of a time to test whether or not it could hold her weight and be used as a floatation device.

It could. Thankfully. Brandy also breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the boat was still coming towards her. Great. Another chance. Just need to get it just right...

Large purple flames fired from the beast, heading right in her direction. Just in time for her to grab the Nail once more, ducking completely under the water this time when they hit the surface. Thanks to their sheer luminosity, Brandy could see the fires even though the murky, storm-hit ocean waters around her. Looking up to see an outline of the boat becides her, she decided to make her re-emergence by sticking the sword straight up. Through a portion of Whiskers that was wrapped around its front end. Above, though inaudible to the dog, Mr. Whiskers shrieked at the sheer shock of this move.

This managed to be a surprisingly strong grip. Using her other hand to hold on another underwater segment, she began climbing in spite of the large number of aimless hands that spawned from him, attempting to pin-point his attacker from below. Even with a grip on the sword, slowly stabbing higher and higher points, and another grip on her shield, Brandy was still able to dig herself to the ocean's surface while keeping a hold on the beast.

"You still want to leave. After all of this..." Whiskers said to himself, at a low enough whisper to be unheard by even Brandy's dog ears, even if the storm was not present.

One of his already-present arms attempted to dive down, turning into a complete knife just as it was about to plunge straight into Brandy's heart. The only thing preventing this attack from completing was when Brandy took a plunge into Whiskers himself - digging into the opening that the sword helped slice.

It was here, looking through the monster, that she thought to herself. _He has to have a weak point, right?_

And Brandy got her indirect answer through the sight of something glowing among the blackness. A... purple... large... vein thing?

She had to brush her way through Whiskers's inky body to get a closer look. It was pretty large, and if she had to guess, she'd say it was something similar to a spine in that it ran down his back. Inside, glowing brightly, were faces. Various faces. Faces in pain. Faces that appeared to be trapped. An occasional other hand or foot, slamming against this tunnel they were compressed in.

It didn't take a genius to guess that this was where he kept the souls he consumed. Still, outside, Whiskers felt like the safest way to get rid of his particular 'parasite' was to cook it. Brandy felt the temperature within him rising. She had a strict time limit to cutting that thing.

And thus she did. One slice, thankfully tearing through it just like the sword had with everything else shadow-related that stood in its path. The heat still rose, boiling. But Brandy knew that it had the desired effect.

Just like that, only a second seconds later, the souls were able to escape. Light burst in nearly all directions from the attack, while the spirits split rips across his exterior. Just as the internal heat became unbearable, Brandy lept her way out of the beast through one such rip, embracing the cold air of the rainstorm as she landed back on the deck then looked up to see the downfall of a villain, and the true beginning to a new life.

Whiskers roared in his monsterous form as souls, turning from green to blue, flew out and scattered among the world. The shadow mass that was his form died down, turning into more of a purple, as he regained the familiar bunny shape. Once three exceptionally bright, slightly yellow-er souls flew out, he took a significant decrease in mass, fully being brough down resembling a simple, if purple-tinted Rabbit. He was hunched over at first, clutching his chest as the last souls escaped, either returning to their owners or flying off to freedom.

When he looked up, Brandy could tell that her final attack left a nasty gash in his mis-section. Not-too surprisingly, he seemed hollow inside. No blood, no organs, just empty blackness. He leered at his opponent.

The Simpson family burst out from the doors, all four of them with clenched fists fuming at their captor. The captor who said the following:

"I didn't think you could do it. I didn't want you to do it. But you kept pushing yourself. You did it. Congratulations. You're free now, Brandy."

He fell over, and as with Pigman and Arcshade before him, exploded into purple smoke.

Brandy took a deep breath in through the rain. Speaking of which, it took time, but eventually his blast towards the sky that caused such weather began to clear itself up. First with sun rays poking through the storming gray clouds, then with the showers themselves beginning to lighten. Marge put her hand on the dog's shoulder.

"So it's over?" Aformentioned Simpson asked.

"Oh yeah. It's over." Brandy replied.

* * *

It still took a few hours, even after the storm cleared, before the outlines of Florida were visible. The sparkling beaches, familiar bird cries, chatter of other fellow humans (a lot of them, it sounded like), it all seemed so... _alien_ to finally be back. Not to mention (temporarly?) casting aside those new friends... even if one of them was mandatory, on account of being a mass soul-sucker.

The boat pulled into a dock - and not one made of ink - and Eddy happily escorted Brandy on to dry, normal land. Unexpected to her, however, was the large crowd awaiting her.

"I knew it! Those souls were right!" One member of this large mass of people cheered, "She's the one that saved us from that... weird... centibunny thing! Tom, you were right when you recognized her and ya' know told us she was coming in from here!"

The crowd errupted in roars, and while half of them were confused, Brandy couldn't help but absorb that little bit of pride and lift a smile after all the events that just occured. She rose her hands up as the Simpson family worked their way to the front of the crowd.

"Um, excuse me..." Said Marge, "We are looking for a way back home. To Ohio. I think I recognized some of you while we were all absorbed in that big purple monster."

One "Sure thing" later, and the family disappeared into the crowd. Which Brandy waved a dismissive hand at.

"Look, I'm glad I'm a world hero now, but I've been stranded for over a year. All I want to do is get back to my home and enjoy my life."

She looked off as the group started to thin a little, staring out into the open sea behind her.

"Well... maybe I'll rest first, but there is _one_ more thing I really want to do. Eddy, do you think you can take us back to that oil-city?"

"I know it's called Darktown. Bart told me." Her, uh, 'owner' explained, "While we were in that... soul-y thing."

Brandy drew in a deep breath of her homeland, taking up the crowd of (mostly confused) praisers for recognizing her while she was setting them free. The pooch looked looked up and felt like things were finally _almost_ settled.

* * *

"Figures Tiffany wouldn't want to join us, thanks for finding another talking dog Sandy." Brandy said.

"No problem!" Replied her sort-of counterpart.

Gathered around behind the Nail was a quartet of talking dogs: Brandy herself, Sandy, the one from the boat, and yet another one who looked like she had no idea what she was doing. Obviously, the one who saved the world and held a sword in her hand was acting as the lead of this group. The group that was, at the moment, holding hands in a chain. Brandy wave the sword itself around, causing the chain to glow a bright green while the shield began glowing purple.

"Now... barrier! Extendus, or something! I don't know, those Shadows told me this would work!"

The nail disappeared into purple smoke (leaving the paint behind, which splatted the ground below), being waved around through and going into some air above the town. A large, dimming dome appeared over Darktown, seemingly being a visual cue to its perimeter. And with a few rather ominous sounds of rushing wind, the dome expanded. Harmlessly passing over the quartet of talking dogs, stretching along both the desert and beach boundries, and even filling in the sky. Once the entire horizon was darkened by its area, the dark effects itself faded completely. With that, a number of shady forces in heavy clothing peeked their eyes from the streets. Hundreds, possibly thousands. All gathered by the city grounds. Curiously, one of them dropped a foot on the sand connecting them with the dogs.

She smiled after seeing her foot not sizzle or burn away. This caused the other Shadows to follow in suit, Darktown being on its way of slowly expanding as its residents walked out in the open desert or splashed in the ocean that the fateful battle took place in, all of which enjoying how the sunlight was no longer an issue.

Thankfully, the one that actually talked to Brandy was the only one whose name she actually got. Rialdantz. From her finger, she traced a path of shadow material to Brandy's location, then melted into the ground in order to use it to zip closer, emerging really close to the canine ally.

"Hey, thanks, but you did not have to do that." She said.

Brandy dismissed this with a wave and a laugh. "Don't be so humble. I know what it's like to be stranded. So, if I get this right, you're still not protected from the _Sun_..."

"Oh, we know. You only expanded the boundry over Earth."

Brandy giggled. "But we can wait until humans and us can _really_ travel through space before we have to worry about finding a cure for that. Since what's the point of giving you guys sunscreen if you can't really go over in the Sun in the first place?"

"I guess. That makes sense. So, erm, until then, we have the whole planet now?"

"...Ew, we and the _whole_ planet? Sorry, go where you want, but I think I'm gonna keep myself at home, here, or the Amazon most of the time. I explored enough in one day."

* * *

 **Closing AN:**

Yes, I know, the actual post-final battle sequence was kind of rushed. I don't know. Even though it was hardly focused on, I still felt like giving those Shadow people a bone at the end and having a happy ending, even if it feels a bit rushed and artificial. Well, as I'll cover below, this _is_ just like a kind of "send out an old idea I had years ago and try to re-do it," even if I changed a few things around (this will _also_ be covered, and yes, making the Shadows friendly was one of them).

The title of this chapter had a bit of a history. For a while, it was going to the "The Final Battle," but then I thought it would be too cliche. Then "Showdown," but that would be way too similar to the joke ending of _496 Reasons_ , another fan fic I did, and I'd rather try to have as many unique names as I could even for chapters from different stories. So I decided, near the end of this chapter's writing I might add, to just sort of name this after the location like the rest of the story. "The Open Ocean" sounded kind of... overused maybe, both here and maybe in some other things I did, so I had a little compromise and gave it a name I liked a little more: Open _Freedom_. Hey, it made sense in my head at the time.

 **Final Thoughts:**

As you could probably tell, towards the second half of the chapter after the defeat of Whiskers, I wasn't as focused on writing this out as a full-quality story so much as getting it done and trying to hash out as fitting of an ending as I could. If some concepts, such as the whole "town of trapped humanoids with weird powers" seem underused... well, that's kind of what the other stories I'm doing are for. I could kind of compare them to _run:gifocalypse_ , but more benevolent than the .GIFfany copies. Again, the Shadows honestly were planned to be evil back when I first came up with the idea so many years ago, but to make things "interesting" I added another beast (Arcshade) and had them work for him instead. Plus, it gives a reason for how Brandy would have an exposition guide through this. Also I would say that sequels can always expand on ideas, except I've kind of recently realized how much I'm adverse towards sequels. To the point where _Hecksing Ulumate Crconikals_ has a spinoff, a prequel, and even an upcoming split-timeline story about that spinoff, but no "true" direct sequel. There _was_ going to be a sort of direct sequel to this called something like _Brandy 2: Bound to the Blade_ , where this story would have ended with a tiny piece of Whiskers going inside Brandy and sticking there, only not taking her over if she kept the Tooth held as its lightness powers reduced Whiskers's place, and then she'd have to go over to the lightness pool and ingest it (this was also before I thought about the joke of Pigman bathing in that) to kill him for good. But... I thought it wouldn't really work out on its own. As for not really focusing that much on the _Brandy and Mr. Whiskers_ cast that much or having the Simpson family quickly become irrelevant... let's just say that _was_ accurate to the original plan.

Speaking of things that were planned for the story... well, this one's really embarassing... again, back when I was eight, in addition to throwing in a random _Ed, Edd n Eddy_ crossover cameo (which obviously remained in the final product, as you can see just by scrolling up), _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ was also gonna get involved. But I removed that because even I, in the present, have standards. Namely that story arc about those dragon cards and the seals that take one's soul if they lost would be worked in. Like, you know how the map in the intro of _Brandy and Mr. Whiskers_ showed this spot marked "Headhunters?" Well, for some reason I thought it wouldn't be a stupid idea (I also didn't know didn't really know about Headhunters at all) if those dragon/warrior characters were classed as "headhunters" and Brandy actually kinda knew them. Whiskers would have been tied to that soul-eating monster thing of that storyline, and... I don't know, it was a dumb idea, I don't know how to hammer that in further. Oh, I think Pigman's deadly ring attack was kind of lifted from one of the monster cards from that arc. That's worth mentioning too, I guess, giving credit where credit is due.

So in general, I tried to give this a kind of tone of "It takes itself pretty seriously, but it still feels like an eight year-old wrote it story-wise." I hope you enjoyed what might be considered a blast from the past, or might not since it kind of deviated from the literally age-old plan. I also tried to avoid referencing anything that came out after around the time I thought this up back when I was a kid, though you can probably spot some very mild _Undertale_ inspiration with the case of the Shadows. Well, it might not have been specifically inspired by that. I don't really know anymore. _The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Video Game_ also inspired parts of this, such as the whole "sliding down a rocky canyon-like area" and a battle out in the sea. Heck, originally the Eds were supposed to have some kind of size-enlarging thing that would have made Ed into a giant that swam across the ocean (or was forced to do so by Whiskers), like the fight against Dennis on David Hasselhoff. But, again, that was pushing the bar even for this and it would make more sense if they just took a boat.

So now, for the future. Well, with one crack crossover finally out of the way, I kind of used a little RNG system (okay, I set up a _MUGEN_ "tournament" of sorts where I let the AIs of various cheap/difficult characters duke it out, and assign a story to each one) to determine what should be next... well, the result was that I went back to my previous crack crossovers and redo them a little, as I promised. (No, this itself is not planned to have a revisioning. The reason why the other two will is because one of them I sort of rushed and the other as it stands shows a really poor lack of grasping _Steven Universe_ canon) One of which is _The Hair Idealization_ , which I plan to tackle first. The other... well...

 **THE END.**

* * *

 **Coming... sooner than it was before:**

 _"Their organization has fallen apart!"_

 **Another trip back to the first-published odd crossover of his...**

 _"They went from keeping us safe from vampires to this?"_

 **Now actually following Beach City's geography correctly.**

 _"What, kid? Didja really think there would be some kinda huge train station or something taking us out of here? I've only been here a day, and even I know that this is just some tiny, quiet town."_

 **CARL STEVENS UNIVERSE: REMASTERED. Now more accurate to** _ **Steven Universe**_ **, and using more than just seven episodes (in my defense, they were the only episodes at the time) as a base.**

(No, I won't cram in Peridot or Lapis or whatever for the sake of having those characters in. Expect more of the humans to make an appearance instead.)


End file.
